Dr. Aaron Lewis, a historian of the U.S. South, talks about his dissertation on the historical memories of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America and the importance of studying the Confederacy and its role in perpetuating white supremacy throughout U.S. history. He also discusses how/why Confederate symbols are still present in the United States today and the way their meanings have changed throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Dr. Aaron Lewis has a Ph.D. in History from the University of South Florida. To read Dr. Lewis’ dissertation, click here: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/8463/

Artwork by Nacer Ahmadi: IG @x.filezzz

For the final episode of Season Two, Dr. Chad Nelsen, CEO of the Surfrider Foundation, and I discuss "surfonomics", the threats our oceans and coasts face, and how surfing can play a large role in conserving our planet.

Chad earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA, and has been working in ocean and coastal conservation for over 25 years, working at the intersection of advocacy, ocean recreation, and grassroots organizing. His research at UCLA led him to become a founder in the field of “surfonomics,” which studies the economic value of surfing and ocean recreation.

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For this episode, I am joined by surf historian Katie Hunt. Katie is in the home stretch of her History Ph.D. at the University of Kent. She’s an avid surfer at her home break in North Devon. That is…when the waves are good.

In this episode, Katie offers us a brief history of the “surf shop,” as well as an overview of its founding years in California from 1935 to 1959—an era in California surfing history considered the golden years of isolated nomadic surf communities. We also dig into the “feeling” one gets from being in a surf shop, and how surf shops in non-coastal towns can still engender a feeling of nostalgia to surfers longing to be in the water.

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The is a special episode with "The Surfing Historian" Podcast host, Jason Old, where he addresses a few questions from one of our loyal listeners. The questions are about his specific research on the proliferation of surf tourism in Nicaragua. Do you have questions for our host? Feel free to visit us at surfinghistorian.com and send your questions on our contact page.

For today’s episode, I chat with Dr. Stefan Krause about his research on surf tourism in Costa Rica and his work on cultural heritage in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Stefan is the Program Director of Anthropology at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. His academic research focuses primarily on the anthropology of tourism and cultural heritage. He holds an Master’s degree from San Diego State University where he conducted research on surf tourism in Costa Rica. Stefan’s anthropology PhD, however, is from the University of South Florida. There, he shifted his attention away from Central America to study the Western Pacific, focusing on the preservation of traditions and customs on the island of Yap in the nation of the Federated States of Micronesia.

You can check out his research at lamar.academia.edu/StefanKrause.

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For this episode, I chat with Jesse Reiblich, professor of marine law and policy at the University of Rhode Island, about surf break protection and his most recently published article, "A Global Review of Legal Protection Mechanisms for the Management of Surf Breaks," which he co-published in Marine Policy with Dr. Shane Orchard and Mauricio dos Santos.

Jesse Reiblich is an attorney and expert in coastal and marine law and policy. He teaches and researches at the University of Rhode Island in the Marine Affairs Department. Jesse has published on many topics, including coastal access and equity, climate change policy, the public trust doctrine, water law, coastal adaptation, the California Coastal Act, and surf break protection. His upcoming research will focus on environmental justice concerns in the U.S. Territories, coastal access and recreation, and the efficacy of statutory coastal laws.

Article Summary

Legal protection has become essential for managing the world’s surf breaks much as it has for other marine and coastal protected areas. This paper presents the first systematic review of global developments in this field. We used a keyword literature search and thematic content analysis to characterize legal protection mechanisms that are designed for surf breaks or have been specifically applied to address surf break protection needs. They are currently found in six countries, protect over 500 surf breaks, and include examples of single-location mechanisms (e.g., Malibu in USA, Punta de Lobos in Chile) and national-level protection mechanisms addressing multiple surf breaks (e.g., New Zealand and Peru). Across all examples we identified 63 discrete themes that can be drawn upon to design and communicate protection measures and present these in a typology that highlights contributing ideas.

Thematic analysis identified a major distinction between process and outcome-based requirements. More comprehensive protections can be recognized by attention to a wider range of threat classes and in the detail provided for decision support, with the two ideally working together to identify the minimum assessment requirements for development proposals. Variation in levels of protection is a key topic for consideration as is the process by which locations are identified or qualified for legal protections to apply. There is also a need to evaluate the effectiveness of provisions already in place, carrying with it the need for outcomes-based monitoring which is currently rare.

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For this episode, I chat with Dr. Jérémy Lemarié, Associate Professor of Sports Management at the University of Reims in France, about his research on surf tourism, marketing surfing, surfer activism, and solidarity within the global surf community.

Jeremy’s research more broadly examines sports and tourism in the United States and in Polynesia. After conducting fieldwork in California and Hawaii for three years, he published a book on the commodification of Hawaiian culture through surf tourism and has also published a number of journal articles on the professionalization of lifestyle sports and human-nature interactions.

As a professor, he’s taught courses on Management, Marketing, Tourism, Sociology, History and Cultural Anthropology at 8 universities. Among them, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Paris Sorbonne University, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Check out all his scholarly work at univ-reims.academia.edu/JeremyLemarie.

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For this episode, I interview Environmental Scientist Dr. Ed Atkin about his research on developing tools and guidelines for surfing resource management. In New Zealand, Ed works for eCoast Marine Consulting and Research, conducting research in the areas of surf science and surfing resource management. In addition to his doctoral and consulting work, we also chat about his involvement with the Aotearoa New Zealand Association for Surfing Research and the International Association of Surfing Researchers—organizations that he has been passionately involved with for quite a while.

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